Creative criticism

Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts has been an outspoken critic of the standard of creative advertising in the Middle East. Nevertheless, the region features strongly in the advertising and marketing giant's future plans - and Roberts expects local talent to rise to the challenge.

Most worldwide networks' ceos, whether American or not, come here once a year or every three years," says Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts as he settles into a chair. "I lived in the Middle East, I know all the players, the clients, the people, the mentality, and I've decided that this is going to be a priority for us."

Appointed CEO of Pepsi-Cola Middle East back in 1982, Roberts has an "affinity" for the region that extends beyond the usual platitudes. Now at advertising giant Saatchi, he may be based in London, but he does know the region intimately, and is therefore perhaps better qualified to comment on its strengths and weaknesses than the average global CEO.

He's not afraid to have his say, either - in April this year, Roberts sparked a storm when he derided the region's creativity in advertising as "cr*p". Industry figures from within the region defended their output, but Roberts is unrepentant and argues that his comments have at least spurred debate.

"Je ne regrette rien - nothing is more painful than regret," he says. "I said it on purpose to stimulate the creative community because they were making money here under false pretences.

"Everybody was walking around thinking they were smarter than they were, and I felt that this was not a good thing for the industry," he continues. "I said it deliberately. Did I do it to offend people? Of course: to provoke and stimulate."

Comparing the Middle East's creative advertising output to that of the rest of the world, and against the current hotspots of Argentina and Brazil, Roberts says it ranks "very poorly".

"Where are the great Arabic copywriters, the great Arabic campaigns in the rest of the world?" He asks rhetorically. "The fact is that truth hurts. What I really wanted to do was to galvanise people so that they say ‘right, we're going to show that guy', because it's good for us at Saatchi if the whole level of creativity rises. It did pi*s people off and these people now will have to deliver."

Roberts insists that it is not creativity per se that is lacking in the region, but that the advertising industry is coming up short at the moment.

"The industry itself is new and young. Budgets have been small and there's been incredible growth anyway," says Roberts. "People are lazy, and clients and creatives are lazy. They come here, they can do OK work, no big hassle, no big fight, business grows 20 percent. Why risk it?

"They're building Atlantis here, not in Florida," he adds. "The creativity in the region is huge; the creativity in advertising has been a little bit self-satisfied and safety-first.

Nevertheless, Roberts is looking to the region to drive revenues for Saatchi and its parent company Publicis SA. Paris-based Publicis is the world's fourth-largest ad firm, and saw its third-quarter revenue hold firm even as the globe's financial markets tumbled. Revenue did fall to $1.4bn from $1.45bn a year earlier but Saatchi, according to Roberts, has so far enjoyed a record year.

"We have grown revenue for 11 consecutive years, including this year," he says, adding: "Next year will be tougher, but we will not be reducing or eliminating any jobs at this stage."

Roberts runs a network of 150 offices, owned or affiliated, across more than 90 countries. His agency works for some of the world's biggest brands such as Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Sony, Kodak, Gillette, and Hewlett Packard, among others.

Like its mother company, Saatchi is focusing on operations in emerging markets and digital advertising to compensate for slowdown or weaker growth in developed markets and more traditional revenue sources. Roberts is not worried about the global economic recession - rather, he argues that it creates opportunities.

"I feel completely fearless about this. The market will decline, and advertising budgets will decline within that, [but] Saatchi & Saatchi will grow market share," he says enthusiastically.

"Make no mistake, the recession in the US will get worse," he continues. "Europe will get slower, and growth in China will decelerate, but still we are looking at double digit growth rates in China, India, Russia and the Middle East. The developing markets will still generate growth."

Roberts had lived through four recessions in his lifetime, and while he fears that this one will be longer, deeper and tougher than expected, he insists that Saatchi is not at risk.